In conventional laser scanning microscopes, a reflecting element, such as a galvano scanner, is disposed on an optical path between a laser light resource and an objective lens, and the sample is scanned by the laser light by changing the rotation angle of this reflecting element continuously (e.g. see Patent Document 1).
In the case of a laser scanning microscope, reading the scan data on scanning systems and control signals, for performing image capture control and laser control, are normally constructed as independent systems synchronizing with a common reference clock. In Patent Document 1, for example, the scanner control circuit and the image sampling circuit are constructed as independent systems that synchronize with the reference clock from the clock generation circuit.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-212807
However in the case of prior art including Patent Document 1, laser lighting control and image capturing control are implemented by hardware, so supporting complicated combinations of control signals to perform these controls is difficult.
According to the conventional hardware-based systems that are used, it is easy to create one set of control signals for one cycle of scanning, but to create a plurality of sets of control signals complicates the circuit configuration since different hardware must be provided for each set. Also a new mechanism to change the predetermined timing on the hardware must be installed to adjust these control signals, which makes the circuit configuration even more complicated.
The circuit configuration cannot be changed after the circuit is designed, which means that an arbitrary control signal cannot be generated once design is completed.